Engine compounds for drilling rigs



March 1, 1960 J. H. wlLsoN ENGINE COMPOUNDS FOR DRILLING RIGS Original Filed April 17, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 March l, 1960 J. H. wlLsoN ENGINE COMPOUNDS FOR DRILLING RIGs 4 Sheets-Shaw:l 2

Original Filed April 17, 1951 INVENTOR.

JOHN HART WnLsoN ATTY March 1, 1960 J, H, WILSQN 2,926,766

ENGINE COMPOUNDS FOR DRILLING RIGS Original Filed April 17, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 JNVENTOR. TQQ V JOHN HART WILSON March 1, 1960- J. H. wlLsoN ENGINE COMPOUNDS FOR DRILLING RIGS original Filed April 17, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR. JOHN HART WILSON BY Wag-7% da, M

United ,t States Patent O `2,926,766 ENGINE COMPOUNDS FOR DRILLING RIGS 101m Han wilson, wichita Falls, Tex.

Original application April 17, 1951, Serial No. 221,371. `Divided and this application June 20, 1956, Serial No. 592,677

11 Claims. (Cl. 192-112) This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 221,371, filed April 17, 1951, now Patent No. 2,784,557.

This invention relates to improvements in engine compounds for drilling rigs, and more particularly to sectional or unit compounds `whereby engines can be added within the drive system or removed therefrom, depending on the drilling4 requirements.

lIn the construction of drilling rigs and the like, it is often necessary to use two or more engines connected together in driving relation to drive the massive machinery of the drilling ri to perform the operation of drilling oil wells. The composite total of the machinery is of such great weight and size that it is impractical to move suchmachinery as a single unit. Each engine is preferably mounted on a skid sill frame, which skid sill frames, together with the transmission and draw-works are mounted on a main frame. Much time, labor and skill are required to locate the various engines in spaced, aligned relation to the transmission and to the draw-works, and it would be very desirable, once the machinery is properly positioned and aligned, to maintain it permanently in place on the main frame, but due to the fact that drilling rigs must be moved frequently, that is impossible. The present arrangement enables the assembled on the main frame so that the engines and other machinery will be in the same aligned relation it originally occupied.

The present invention is so designed as to enable two ormore engines to be placed in side by side relation with the shafts of the engines and the shafts of the com pounds connected in alignment, so that the individual driving relation; these may be connected to the drawworksiand to the mud pump and to other ancillary equipheavy load, even slight mis-alignment results in the ilexparts to be disassembled and reclutch, and showing one 2,926,766 Patented Mar. 1, 1960 2 ible couplings quickly becoming worn, which imposes a heavy load on adjacent bearings.

Furthermore, diiculty has been experienced heretofore in connecting the compound shafts to the clutches, torque converters and the like, which are in axial alignment with the engine shafts, which compound shafts were usually aligned with respect to the shaft of the transmission positioned on the main frame, because when engines were shifted with respect to the frame, the compound shafts became relatively mis-aligned with respect to the engine shafts.

The present invention embodies the axial alignment of the shafts of the compounds with the shafts of the respective engines so each compound shaft will be journaled on each side of the compound member in axial alignment with the engine shaft.

housing which joins the engine flywheel housing, or the torque converter, directly to the compound case, thus eliminating chance of mis-alignment.

An object of this invention is to provide an individual unit compound for each engine or prime mover so two or more engines may be connected together in driving relation with a common object to be driven, such as a pump or the draw-works of a rotary drilling rig.

Another object of this invention is to provide a unit compound arrangement whereby two or more engines may be compounded together in driving relationso that when the shafts of the engines are aligned and index stop means provided, the engines and thecompound units can be removed from the main frame and replaced thereon without having to re-align the compound shafts to the respective engine shafts.

A lindrical housing, which housing 1s interposed between an engine and a compound unit and is split along its transhorizontal center line so that either half may be removed to provide accessibility to a clutch within said housing.

An embodiment of this invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a rotary drilling rig showing two engines and their respective unit compound members interconnected in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is an elevational view of the form of the invention as shown in Figure l;

Figure 3 is an enlarged top plan view, with parts broken away and shown in section, of the invention as used in with a torque converter and a pneumatic of the bearings of the shaft of the compound member;

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3, but with the torque converter and extension housing omitted, and showing one of the bearings of the shaft ofthe compound;

Figure 5 is an exploded perspective view of the cylindrical housings and the connecting members, with parts broken away and shown in section, to illustrate the details of construction;

Figure 6 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional View through the upper portion of the split housing and showin place; and

one end of the main frame. mounted on a stand 3 which is driller or operator.

The drilling controls are within easy access of the The rotary drawworks in general comprises a drum 4, cathead shaft 5, and the mechanism connected thereto for operating the driving mechanism of these and associated parts. A transmission 6 is provided with various speed change gear ratios, which in the present instance are shown to be sprockets and chains, and reverse gearing, with suitable clutches to perform the various drilling operations.

in the form of the invention as shown in Figures l to 7, inclusive, the main frame 1 has engines 7 and 8 mounted on the respective skid sill frames 9 and 10. The skid sill iframes are made of heavy structural material, such as H beams, and have end members 11 and 12 secured across the ends of the respective pairs of skid sill frames, so as to form a separate, rigid unit frame for each of the engines, which units are rmly but detachably secured to the main frame 1 ofthe rotary drilling rig.

The engines 7 and 8 are mounted in spaced, side by side relation, their respective frame units being so mounted on the main frame 1 that the compound shafts 13 and 14, extending outwardly from the respective engines, will be parallel to each other and parallel to the shaft 15 of the transmission 6, and the shaft 27a that drives the pump (not shown) so that a driving chain 16 may be interconnected between sprocket 17 on shaft extension 13 and sprocket 18 on transmission shaft 15, or the chain may connect with the sprocket 14 or with the sprocket on shaft 27a for driving the pump. A sprocket 19 is provided on compound shaft 14 of engine 8, which is connected to sprocket 20 positioned on compound shafts 13 of engine 7 by a drive chain 21. The sprockets 17 and 20 are secured to compound shaft 13 so that upon disengagement of clutch 22 of engine 7, the transmission shaft 15 can be driven by engine 8, or upon disengagement of a similar clutch 22 (not shown) in housing 54, connected to the engine 8, the transmission shaft 15,may be driven by engine 7, or, with both clutches 22 engaged, the power of both engines 7 and 8 may be transmitted to the transmission shaft 15 in compounded relation through drive chain 16 to drive drawworks 4. By the release of clutches 24, and 24a, which are pneumatically actuated, the transmission gearing will be disconnected, which will permit either the engine 7 or the engine 8 to drive through pump drive chain 25 and through engaged clutch 26 to drive V-belt pulley 27 which, in turn, will drive through V.belts 28 to drive a mud pump (not shown) to aid in performing the drilling operation; or the power of these engines may be compounded, as described above, by engagement of both clutches 22 of the respective engines with the respective compound shafts 13 and 14, to drive the m-ud pump; or, by engagement of the proper clutches, both the transmission gearing elements and the pump or pumps may be driven simultaneously.

The various clutches 22, 24, 24a 26, 29, 30, 31 and 32, which are pneumatically actuated, are supplied with `air through rotary air seals, 35, 36, 24b, 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41, respectively which seals are connected to the respective shafts on which the clutches are mounted and to a conduit that leads therefrom to a control valve on control stand 3, Each of the drum ends 33 and 34 has a pneumatically actuated clutch therein, which clutch is supplied with air through a rotary air seal connection 42 positioned on the end of the drum shaft, the latter having conduits leading therefrom to valves on control stand 3, where the various conduits leading to the rotary seals are connected to an air supply system which is under pressure generated by an air compressor 43.

Each of the engines 7 or 8 may be used individually or they may be compounded together to drive through shaft 15 and shaft 15a, and with clutch 31 in engagement through rotary drive chain 44 to drive sprockets 45 and 46, to which a rotary table (not shown) may be connected to rotate the drill stem (not shown) for drilling a well.

As shown in Figure 3, each individual engine may be provided with a torque converter, which torque converter has a cylindrical housing 47, one end of which housing,

abuts 'with and is secured to one end of the fly wheel housing 48 of the engine by means of bolts 52. The opposite end of the torque converter housing is secured to a clutch housing extension 54 by means of bolts 58. A pair of semi-cylindrical members 74 are bolted together along their horizontal line by means of bolts 78 to form a cylindrical clutch housing, one end of which is secured to the opposite end of clutch extension housing 54 by bolts 79. An annular T-ring member 61 (Figure is formed with an outstanding rib 64 which has faces 62 and 63 on opposite sides thereof. The inner portion of the T-ring member 61 has oppositely directed annular pilot rings 65 and 66 formed thereon, the T-ring being interposed between the cylindrical clutch'housing and the clutch extension housing and secured in place by said bolts 79. The wall 69 of the individual compound housing on the side adjacent the engine has a cylindrical opening in which a bearing mounting plate 68 is fitted, which plate is held in secured relation by a bolt 70 pass-` ing through bearing support plate 68 screw-threaded into wall 69.

A wall 69a (Figure l) is provided on the opposite side of the compound housing from the wall 69, which walls support bearings 67a and 67 respectively, which bearings are mounted therein in axial alignment for journaling `compound shaft 13.

The respective transverse faces of fly wheel housing 48, torque converter housing 47, the clutch extension housing 54, T-ring member 61, semi-cylindrical clutch housing member 74, bearing support plate 68 and the face of the compound housing wall 69 which is complementary with the face of bearing support plate 68 are all parallel to each other and at right angles to the axis of the coaxially aligned shafts of the engine, the torque converter and compound.

The ilywheel housing 48 has a coaxial bore 50 in which an annular pilot ring 49 interiits when the face 51 of the torque converter housing is abutted with the flywheel housing 48. An annular pilot ring 55 of thi?Y clutch housing extension member 54 iuterts within an annular recess of groove 56 and when face 57 is in abutting relation with the face of the housing of the torque converter 47, the clutch extension housing 54 is held ,in true alignment with the torque converter housing 47 with respect thereto.

The T-ring member 61, which has a face 62, is adapted to abut with the face 59 of the clutch extension housing 54 so that an annular pilot ring 65 will intert .within an annular bore 60 of the clutch extension housing.

The opposite side of the T-ring 61 has an annular pilot ring 66 directed toward bearing support plate 68 which bearing support plate also has an annular pilot ring 72 coaxial with the pilot ring 66. With these housingsin this position, the clutch 22 may be connected to shafts` 13 and 53 to form driving relation therewith, then, the respective semi-cylindrical clutch housing members 74 will be positioned above and below clutch 22 and bolted together by bolts 78 so as to cause the pilot grooves 73 and 75 in the members 74 to seat upon pilot rings 72 and 66 respectively. With the clutch housing thus in place, bolts 79 and 80 bolt the housing 74 at its respective ends to the clutch extension housing 54 and to the bearing support plate 68, and in so doing the housing forms a rigid, piloted, aligned member with respect to the shaft 13 and will enable the shaft 13 to run in true axial alignment, thus obviating the necessity of a flexible joint coupling. ln this manner the housings 74, 54, and Tfring 61 are rigidly connected to compound ,housing 69 by the torque converter housing 47 or the clutch housing 48.50 that. the reaction torque of the shaft of the engineis transmitted back to the engine housing through housings '47 and/or 5,4, 74 and '1T-ring 61.

With the face 71 of the bearing support plate parallel with the face ve3 of the T-ring member 61, the semicylindrical housing members 7.4 may each he4 into place so that the face 76 will abut with the face 71 of the bearing support 68 and the face 77 will abut with the face 63 of the T-ring member and when the semicylindrical members 74 are bolted together, will position the housing so that either half may be removed to permit inspection and repair of the clutch member 22, and the other portion of the housing 74 will remain bolted in place, which will maintain the shaft ,13.in true axial alignment with the shaft S3. Plates 74a are provided in each of the housing members 74, which enables certain inspections to be conducted through the openings which they cover.

Y When the unit is used with a torque converter, the spider 81, which is bolted to a flange onthe engine shaft, is used as a driving member. This spider 81 has internal teeth which engage with external teeth of the drive mem ber 47a positioned on the shaft of the torque converter y47 so as to form a driving relation between the engine and the torque converter.

In the form of the invention as shown in Figure 4, the circular spider is bolted to a clutch member 22a which clutch member has circumferentially spaced internal teeth which teeth engage the clutch plate member which has external teeth, as shown in the break-away portion of clutch 22. The clutch 22 is of the pneumatic tube type and with the split housing 74 being removable in halves, the clutch air tube may be removed and replaced without disassembly of the compound member or moving the engine, as has been the practice heretofore.

When the torque converter 47 is omitted, the faces 75 of the semi-cylindrical clutch housing members 74 abut with the face 63 of the T-rng member 61 and with the face 62 of the latter abutting against the face of the fly wheel housing 48, the respective parts are held in concentric relation with respect to the engine shaft and the compound shaft 13, in the same manner as set out for the form of the invention shown in Figure 3. It will be seen that the only change necessary is to move the engine toward the compound unit a distance equal to the width of the torque converter 47 and the clutch extension housing 54. By the use of the T-ring member and the split, semi-cylindrical housing members 74, the shafts within the housing can be connected and maintained in true, rigid alignment with the engine shaft, which obviates the necessity of a flexible coupling, as the various shafts, once aligned and spaced by accurate measurements, are permanently maintained in this manner.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A drive unit for sectional compounds comprising an engine having a drive shaft and a flywheel housing, a compound shaft housing, a compound shaft journalled in said housing, said flywheel housing and compound shaft housing being formed with surfaces directed toward and parallel to each other, power transmission means operatively interconnecting said shafts in axially aligned relation, and tubular means rigidly connecting said housings to preserve said alignment, said tubular means having parallel surfaces at the respective ends thereof, one of said end surfaces being secured in tightly abutting relation with said compound housing surface and the other in tightly abutting relation with said flywheel housing surface, each end of said tubular means having a counterbore formed therein, which counter bores are pilot counterbores and are substantially coaxial with said tubular means, said tubular means comprising a sectional clutch housing consisting of two semi-cylindrcal portions of equal axial dimension tightly but separably secured together along lines parallel to the axis of said shaft` 2. A drive unit as defined in claim 1, said tubular means including a torque converter housing, which torque converter housing attachably connects to said tubular means in complementary relation.

3. A drive unit as defined in claim 1, said tubular means comprising a clutch housing extension, said clutch to provide opposed annular annular parallel surfaces and oppositelydirected annular pilot ring portions adapted to seat in said respective pilotrecesses, annular portions of said clutch housing andL clutch housing extension adjacent said respective ,pilot recesses being adapted to seat against said opposite annular T-ring surfaces.

4. A drive unit as defined in claim 1, said compound. formed to provide an annular,

shaft housing being peripheral pilot recess, an annular pilot boss concentric with said pilot recess `on said compound shaft housing, and said annular pilot boss one of said counterbores in 5. In `a compound shaft journalled compound shaft, a housing having a face machined perpendicular to the axis of said shaft, a counterbore formed within said housing and adapted to receive an annular pilot n'ng, an annular member having an outstanding rib with parallel faces and having a pilot ring on each side therf, one of which pilot rings is `adapted to complementarily engage said counterbore in said housing, a bearing support plate having a face perpendicular to said shaft, an annular pilot shoulder on said bearing support plate, an opening concentrically formed within said plate and in spaced relation to said annular shoulder, a

said tubular means.

pair of semi-annular rings, which, when bolted together,

form a concentric ring with opposed parallel faces, each of said faces being perpendicular to the axis of said ring, `a counterbore formed in each end of said concentric ring, one of which counterbores will complementarily engage said pilot ring on said annular member, and the other of said counterbores will engage said annular shoulder on said plate so said concentric ring can be attachably secured between said housing and said bearing plate to enable one portion of said semi-annular ring to be removed to give access to parts therein.

6. A drive unit as defined in claim l, wherein each of said semi-cylindrical portions has at least one opening formed therein, and closure means for said openings.

7. A drive unit for sectional compounds 'comprising a skid base unit, an engine mounted on said skid base unit near an end thereof, said engine having a drive shaft, a flywheel housing, a compound shaft housing mounted on said skid b-ase unit near the other end thereof, a compound shaft journalled in said compound shaft housing, said flywheel housing and said compound shaft housing being formed with surfaces directed toward and parallel with each other, friction clutch power transmission means operatively interconnected with shafts in axially aligned relation, and two semi-cylindrical portions of equal axial dimension tightly but separably secured together along lines parallel to the axes of said shafts, and. having end faces thereof parallel and perpendicular to the axis thereof to form tubular means, which tubular means is rigidly connected at one end in abutting relation to said cornpound shaft housing surface and at the other end in abutting relation to said flywheel housing surface to prevent said alignment, and to carry engine reaction torque.

8. A drive unit as defined in claim 7, wherein said tubular means has at least one lateral opening formed therein.

9. A drive unit assembly as defined in claim 7, wherein each of said semi-cylindrical portions has at least one opening formed therein, and closure means for said openings.

10. A drive unit for sectional compounds comprising a skid base unit, an engine mounted on said skid base unit near an end thereof, said engine having a drive shaft, a flywheel housing, a compound shaft housing mounted on said skid base unit near the outer end thereof, a compound shaft journaled in said compound shaft housing, said flywheel housing and said compound shaft housing being formed with surfaces directed toward and paralbeing adapted to seat within..

bearing support for a rigidl i Iel with each other, friction clutch power transmission means operatively interconnected wi-th shafts in axially aligned relation, and two semi-cylindrical portions of equal axial dimension tightly but separately secured together lalong `lines parallel to the `axes of said shafts, and having `an end faces thereof parallel and perpendicular to the axis thereof to form tubular means, which tubular means is rigidly connected, at one end, in abutting relation to said compound shaft housing surface and at the other end, in abutting relation with said torque converter housing Surface, said torque converter 'being interposed between said engine and said clutch, said housing surfaces being arranged to preserve the alignment therebetween and tocarry lreaction torque from said engine to said torque converter and `to said compound housing.

'11. A drive unit as deiined in claim 1, wherein said 8 engine flywheel housing and said compound shaft `housing are formed to provide opposed, `annular pilot bosses, said respective annular pilot bosses being adapted to complementally seat within the respective counterbores of said tubular means.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 957,602 4Duryea et al. May 10, 1910 1,010,976 Sundh Dec. 5, 1911 1,424,177 Nilsori Aug. 1, 1922 2,618,979 Benning No'v. 25, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 335,871 Great Britain Oct. 2, 1930 

